Captured by : PG3. LEAD_5
The Hillsborough Stadium Stampede “ April 15, 1989
Dubbed Britain’s worst sports disaster, this 1989 stampede saw at least 96 football supporters killed and over 200 more injured. The tragedy took place at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool after a wall collapsed during a stampede by Liverpool supporters. The crush is said to have resulted from too many Liverpool fans being allowed in to the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground. Some fans have said bad ticket allocation contributed to the disaster. Liverpool has far more supporters than Nottingham Forest but were given 6,000 fewer tickets and allocated the smaller Leppings Lane stand.
Lima soccer riot stampede “ May 24, 1964
At least 300 football fans were killed and another 500 injured in one of the worst sports tragedies in Latin America. This tragedy took place at the National Stadium in Lima, Peru, in 1964 during a Peru vs Argentina Olympic qualifying match. The incident took place after the referee disallowed a Peruvian goal. Fights broke out, and people looking to exit the arena were stuck. Horrible crowd control measures exacerbated the situation.
Munich air disaster “ February 6, 1958
The most notable and memorable example of a football team having its course changed and history affected is that involving Manchester United. The plane crashed in Munich while trying to take off from slush covered runway. The crash happened in 1958 with 23 people dying. Manchester United’s side nicknamed “The Busby Babes” were travelling from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, after playing Red Star Belgrade, to Manchester, England, after stopping in Munich for refueling. The Manchester United team lost eight of its members from the 1957-58 squad. The incident came to be popularly known as the “Munich air disaster.” The tragedy is memorialized by a plaque hanging at the club’s Old Trafford stadium.
Heysel Stadium - May 29, 1985
In 1985, Liverpool and Juventus, two of the biggest clubs in Europe, were facing each other for the first time in a European Cup final. Before the match started, Liverpool supporters reacted to taunts from the Italian fans by charging through the lines of Belgian police. The Juventus fans could do nothing, but retreat as far as a wall, which collapsed under the pressure and onto their own fans below. In the ensuing panic 39 supporters died and over 350 were injured. UEFA banned English teams from playing in Europe for five years. However, there were positives. The English FA, with backing from the government, went on a huge campaign to take out the hooligan element, and to some extent succeeded. In addition, along with the Hillsborough disaster it made people look closely at stadium safety. Critics noted even before the match, with 58,000 people coming to watch the game, Heysel was a potential death trap.
Ayrton Senna’s death “ May 1, 1994
The death of Ayrton Senna marked the end of a great era in Formula One Racing. Senna’s generation had produced drivers of the caliber of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and Gerhard Berger, all pushing their cars and their own safety to the limit.Ironically, Senna’s death was faulty steering, rather than a cavalier approach. Unable to control his car around a corner he skidded off the track and crashed into a wall. Upon impact, one of the suspension bars of his car broke loose and collided with his head. The day before, the Austrian driver, Roland Ratzenburger had died in a similar crash during practise.In the aftermath, the governing body finally addressed safety issues in the sport, concerns that Senna himself had expressed. To some it was at the expense of the sport.
